Embers of a Flame
by sarramaks
Summary: ONESHOT. On a warm Beltane night Sarra Beneksri took a walk in the woods... How Daine's parents might have met. Please r & r.


_A/N: Got bored with typing up Interlude so decided to write this story, which came to me in the car as I drove home this evening. Another chapter of Interlude is on its way though. This is the first time I've typed straight onto computer without handwriting it beforehand so let me know how it sounds._

**Disclaimer: **All recognisable characters belong to Tamora Pierce. Any new ones probably belong to her as well.

**From the Embers of A Flame**

Sarra Beneksri woke up on the morning of Beltane, just before the sun rose. Her father had not yet returned from a hunting trip he had gone on the previous day and she welcomed the tranquillity in the house. They hadn't gotten along since her mother had died two years ago; actually, they hadn't really gotten along before that, peace had only been maintained because of Sarra's ma.

Sarra dressed quickly. She had to go and see Isa, a woman who lived in the village who was near due with her first child. Sarra had expected that it would be born that morning having seen and examined her yesterday evening and wanted to be there for the birth as she was expecting it to be difficult.

She left the house having had no breakfast, something she didn't usually do, except today she was having the oddest sensation that she needed to rush to get somewhere, but she wasn't quite sure where. She rode her horse Rainbow to Isa's house, cantering quickly across the fields that separated them. Sarra wondered if the distance between her house and the village had caused the distance between her and the people that lived in Snowsdale. She had never been truly accepted by the townsfolk, although they would happily use her skills as a midwife when any of the women were with child. Maybe it was because they could never fathom why her parents had not moved into the village and rumours about them had started due to their ignorance. She had tried not to dwell on it too much, and she had never been a worrier to begin with.

Reaching Isa's house she could hear the screams of pain that signified the woman had gone into labour. She left Rainbow tethered up by the fence and let herself in, heading straight to Isa.

"How long ago did it begin?" she asked, a comforting tone in her voice.

"About a half hour ago," Isa's husband answered for her.

Sarra glared at him. She knew him of old, and had been targeted by him as a lover on a number of occasions, even after he married Isa.

"When did the pain start?" she asked the woman in lowered tones.

"About an hour before that," Isa cried in between yells.

"It's going to be fine," Sarra told her reassuringly. She washed her hands in the sink and examined the woman. _It's breech,_ she thought, _and it's too late to turn the babe. Great Mother Goddess, please guide me._

Isa yelled further.

"What's going on?" her husband yelled at Sarra. "Why's she screaming so much? Why can't you stop her?"

Sarra prayed for restraint not to strangle the man.

"She's in labour, Haiden, and the bairn's upside down. Why don't you wait outside? I'll call you when it's over," she tried not to let the anger at his stupidity show in her voice.

"Well, but don't you think of poisoning her mind…" he muttered as he left. Sarra wondered what things were currently being said about her around Snowsdale at the moment.

Three hours later, Sarra delivered a baby girl. The cord was wrapped dangerously around her neck. Quickly, Sarra released it without it snapping and slapped the baby to make her cry. She doubted that the little girl had lost enough air to make her poorly as she had unwrapped the cord quickly. She wrapped her in a blanket and handed her to Isa and began to clean up, using her Gift to eradicate any signs of infection.

"Thank you," Isa said to Sarra without taking her eyes away from her daughter. "I would name her after you…"

"I doubt Haiden would like it," Sarra said with some amusement. "So what shall you call her?"

"I'm not sure. Haiden will probably like to choose."

"I'll let him know that she's here," Sarra said quietly, gathering her things and preparing to leave. "I'll drop a tea off for you tomorrow that'll help keep your strength up. You've been lucky, Isa. The Great Mother Goddess was watching over you."

"You watching over me, more likely. You have a gift for birthin'," Sarra smiled at the compliment and left, looking around for Haiden to let him know the good news.

He wasn't around outside the house. Sarra scanned round for him and noticed an open inn across the way. She went inside and saw him next to a buxom barmaid, drinking a pint of ale. He saw her approach and a sneer appeared on his face.

"Well, here she is, Sarra Beneksri, the woman who's too good for Snowsdale men and entertains half of the next village instead!" he said loudly, causing the people in the room to stare at her.

"But I bet they wouldn't have been half as good as you, Haiden. You're just such a stallion, aren't you?" she retorted, a smile on her face as she spoke. "Your wife has just given birth, so its safe to go back in now she's stopped screaming."

The barmaid pushed some distance in between her and Isa's husband.

"Is it a boy?" he asked, the look of scorn on his face disappearing.

"Why don't you go and see Isa and find out for yourself?" She retorted at him, turning round and leaving the inn.

She mounted Rainbow and set off back home, hoping Isa would manage with the bairn. As she rode across the field she saw preparations for Beltane taking place; wood being piled up to make bonfires and stalls being set to sell fertility charms and other such wares. She enjoyed Beltane, liking the attention as men attempted to court her. She had had lovers by now, but knew better than to be tied to one man, especially one who might turn out like Haiden. She saw Thunder, her father's horse, in the field when she reached home and let out a groan. She had hoped he would be away until Beltane was over, but unfortunately he was back.

"Where've you been?" he asked as she walked into the house, skinning a rabbit.

"I've helped deliver Isa's child," she replied, as civilly as she could.

"What she 'ad?"

"A girl."

"Haiden won't be pleased."

"He'll have plenty more time to have a boy. I won't be surprised if she were expecting another by the time the babe's two months old," Sarra sighed.

Her father continued concentrating on preparing the meat he had hunted, not looking at his daughter. "You out celebrating Beltane tonight?"

"You know I will be," she replied, tying her hair up and preparing to start the vegetables that would go with the rabbit.

"No use tellin' you to take care o' yourself, is there?" he muttered.

"Anyone would think you cared," she couldn't resist the remark. "That meat looks good. Did your hunt go well?"

"Weiryn blessed us," he replied, referring to the god of the hunt. He paused for a while. "Immin were asking about you while we was huntin'."

"Really," Sarra smiled wryly. "Were he asking havin' heard of me from other men or because you'd been tellin' him nice things?"

Benek shook his head. "He's after a wife. He's a good man, not some fool like that Haiden."

Sarra laughed. "If I see him tonight then maybe I'll introduce myself. And if I like him, I'll find out if he's a good man or not."

Her father cursed her. "You're goin' to get yourself in trouble one day," he growled.

She dressed in a simple cotton frock and didn't bother about the shoes. Without saying goodbye to her father she left the house and began to walk to the forest outskirts where most people would be for Beltane. Her pregnancy charm was fastened securely around her neck, she had made sure of that, and her heart was alive with excitement at the night. Dusk was just beginning to settle in, the sky softly tinged with red. She got to the crowded area just before one of the village men brought in the torch to light the fires and celebrate the ending of the dark side of the year. Later wives and husbands would take a flame from the fire and use it to light their own hearth.

She watched the couples swarming round the fire, preparing to gather flowers to offer the Goddess in return for fertility and fruitfulness in the coming year. Later they would jump over the embers of the dying fires. A few of the men of Snowsdale and its surrounding area came over to talk to her. Politely, she put them off, wandering alone into the forest, wanting solitude and to subdue the feeling of rushing that she still had.

In the distance, highlighted by the dying sun, she thought she saw a deer, its antlers catching her sight. It came into full view through the trees and she noticed that the antlers were attached to a tall man, wearing a loincloth. He had curly, brown hair and was tanned, with strange green streaks subtly marking his skin. Sarra felt that she should have been scared, but instead she felt full of curiosity. There eyes met and a bolt of lightning seemed to fly through her body and set her heart alight, every one of her senses alive.

"Hello," she said, her voice travelling clearly over the still evening air, as she realised the feeling of hastening had disappeared. This was what she had needed to find.

"Hello, Sarra," the deer-man replied. "I'm surprised to find you alone on Beltane."

She let out a peel of laughter. "It seems everyone knows of my reputation! Not all of it is true."

He touched his antlers briefly and she noticed the firm muscles over his arms and the rest of his body. "Who are you?" she asked, "And how do you know me?"

"I'm Weiryn. I know everyone I choose to take an interest in," he replied, looking at her directly, making her feel as if he could see in to her very soul.

"The God of the hunt," she recalled her father's words. He made more offerings to Weiryn than any other god.

The deer-man nodded and walked over to her. His towered over her small figure, making her feel safe and protected, feeling that no man had ever caused before. They sat down together and talked. He was easy to be with; he already knew things about her and her father and he was actually interested in what she had to say.

"Why do you not want to take a husband?" he asked her, his deep voice touching her bones and making her shudder.

"I'm better on my own than with a man. I like to be my own person. Men in Snowsdale don't understand that. They think a woman is for cooking, sex and babies."

"There are different men in other places, Sarra. Many would marry you on sight," he smiled at her.

"My da would never move away from Snowsdale," she told him.

They laughed together that the man she professed to dislike she would never leave to be on his own.

"You would never join me then, where I live?" he asked her with a shyness that she found endearing.

"You're a god! Why would the likes of you be interested in me?" her laughter echoed again.

"Why not?" He smiled, his voice touching the very edges of her soul. "We need more people like you who can help women like you can. You saved that baby's life today."

"Only because the Great Mother Goddess helped me," she replied.

He shook his head. "Even with her help, not many people could do that. I like what I know of you, Sarra Beneksri."

"But what do I know of you?" she whispered back.

"You know enough of what you feel."

They fell silent, only the chemistry in the air crackled around them. Sarra looked at Weiryn, his back resting against a tree trunk, his green eyes filled with a passion she had never seen before in any man. He leant forward and kissed her, his mouth both powerful and tender. She her eyes closed and she relaxed into the kiss, the blood pulsating around her body, and her heart on fire. Her body responded to him as if he has been her lover for years and knew every inch of her. Every touch caused new sensations as she settled into the rhythm as old as time. In him she had met her match, the only man she could ever say she had fallen in love with, although she could never explain why.

After their passion cooled they began to walk back to edges of the forest, towards Sarra's house.

"Did you seduce me?" she asked him. "I know gods can do that."

"No," he replied. "I didn't have to. If anything, I would say that you seduced me."

"This sounds fair strange, Weiryn, but will you come to me again?"

"When I can. The barrier between the realms is only wide open on days like today. I would like you to come back with me." She saw something growing in the depths of his eyes that she knew was reflecting in her own.

"When I have no one else here who needs me," she told him. She knew she would manage on her own without any man, even this one.

"I will keep you to that promise," he said seriously and led her to the embers of a dying fire, abandoned a while ago by couples to go home and celebrate Beltane, as was the tradition. They jumped over the embers, and for a second Sarra felt the strangest feeling of being pulled away. When she landed, her lover was gone.

The following morning she woke up, knowing she had to take the herbal tea to Isa's house and check that the mother and baby were fine. She thought about the deer-man she had made love with the night before and her heart began to pound like it had never done before. Had she made the right decision, she wondered, to stay here and not go with him?

As she mounted Rainbow, she felt a peculiar feeling deep inside her. Clutching her stomach, realisation fell upon her. Obviously the pregnancy charm would not protect against the will of the gods.

For a second she worried about the chances of being able to birth a half-god child, and then smiled secretly to herself, inner belief filling her with hope and love for the new life that she would bring into the world.

THE END

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